Lesson 5 | Future Indicatives

[2] Future Middle Indicatives

Future middle indicatives are quite similar to future active indicatives. Like future active indicatives, future middle indicatives are non-past in time and perfective in aspect. Their forms differ from one another only in the verb pattern followed by their endings:
λύω in the future indicative
Active Middle
Singular First λύσω λύσομαι
Second λύσεις λύσ
Third λύσει λύσεται
Plural First λύσομεν λυσόμεθα
Second λύσετε λύσεσθε
Third λύσουσι(ν) λύσονται
From the table above, you can see that future active and middle indicatives share three of the four key features: 1) no augment, 2) future stem (often similar to the verb’s aorist stem), and 3) the σ tense-former. However, the endings of the future middle indicative follow the present middle-passive verb pattern:
Indicative Verbs: 4 KEY FEATURES
Tense-Form Voice Augment Stem Tense Former Ending Pattern
Present Active present Primary
Active
Middle/
Passive
present Primary
Middle-Passive
Imperfect Active ε present Secondary
Active
Middle/
Passive
ε present Secondary
Middle-Passive
1st Aorist Active ε
usually same as
present
σα Secondary
Active
Middle ε
usually same as
present
σα Secondary
Middle-Passive
Passive ε
usually same as
present
θη Secondary
Active
2nd Aorist Active ε aorist Secondary
Active
Middle ε aorist Secondary
Middle-Passive
Passive ε aorist η Secondary
Active
Future Active future¹ σ Primary
Active
Middle future¹ σ Primary
Middle-Passive
¹ Often similar to the aorist stem.

Practice

Let’s practice parsing λύω as a future middle indicative using this quizlet:

Examples from the Greek NT

ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν εἰς τὰ ἔθνη πορεύσομαι. From now, I will go to the Gentiles. —Acts 18:6
Our main verb in this clause is πορεύσομαι. Let’s look at its four key features:
πορευ+σ+ομαι
[Augment] [Stem] [Tense-Former] [Ending]

Without the augment and with the primary middle-passive endings, we know that this verb is either a present or future middle indicative. Once we see the σ tense-former, we can parse πορεύσομαι as a future, middle, indicative, first person, singular: “I will go.”

προσεύξομαι τῷ πνεύματι, προσεύξομαι δὲ καὶ τῷ νοΐ I will pray in spirit, but also I will pray in understanding. —1 Cor 14:15
In this next example, we see that the same verb occurs in both clauses: προσεύξομαι.
From the lack of augment and the verb pattern followed by the ending, we can identify προσεύξομαι as either a present middle or passive indicative or a future middle indicative.
At first glance, we do not see the σ tense-former. So, we might assume that this is a present indicative, but we must remember scheming σ! We do not know any verbs with the stem προσευξομαι. However, if this is a future indicative, then we could get a different verb stem that we know: προσευχ+σομαι = προσεύξομαι from the verb προσεύχομαι.
προσευχ+σ+ομαι
[Augment] [Stem] [Tense-Former] [Ending]

So, we can parse προσεύξομαι as a future, middle, indicative, first person, singular from προσεύχομαι: “I will pray.”

πολλοὶ ἐλεύσονται ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου λέγοντες ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ πολλοὺς πλανήσουσιν. Many will come in my name, saying: “I am he,” and they will deceive many. —Mark 13:6
Let’s focus on our two future indicatives: ἐλεύσονται and πλανήσουσιν. We will begin by identifying the four key features for ἐλεύσονται:
ελευ+σ+ονται
[Augment] [Stem] [Tense-Former] [Ending]

The stem makes parsing this verb much more difficult. Thus far, we have seen future stems that are either the same as or similar to a verb’s present or aorist stems. In this case, though, we have a verb whose future stem is very different. The best way to parse this verb is to memorize that the future stem for ἔρχομαι is ἐλευ. Once you know this, it is not difficult to identify the lack of augment, the σ tense-former, and the present middle or passive endings. ἐλεύσονται is a future, middle, indicative, third person, plural from ἔρχομαι: “They will come.”
Even if you do not memorize the stem, you should be able to figure out the verb’s parsing. Once we see the ονται ending, we know that this verb is either present or future because this ending comes from the present middle or passive verb pattern. This ending also tells us that this verb is third person plural. Knowing that this verb is non-past also tells us that the ε at the beginning of the verb is not an augment but is part of the stem. Now, we can identify the stem as either ελευ or ελευσ. From a lexicon, we can tell that there are no Koine Greek verbs with ελευσ as their present stem. So, the σ must come from the σ tense-former. Thus, even without knowing that ελευ is the future stem of ἔρχομαι, we could parse this verb.

Lastly, looking at the four key features for πλανήσουσιν, we can parse it as a future, active, indicative, third person, plural from πλανάω: “They will deceive.” The extra α at the end of the stem makes this a contract verb. Remember that scheming σ sometimes causes that extra vowel to lengthen. That is what happened here: πλανα+σουσιν = πλανήσουσιν.
πλανα+σ+ουσιν
[Augment] [Stem] [Tense-Former] [Ending]


Parsing Practice: Future Middle Indicatives

Use the quizlet below to practice parsing future middle indicatives. Focus on identifying each form's four key features.

Greek III